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Northern Gannet

Morus bassanus

Published on Project Noah
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54.2848, -0.409034

Field Notes

Description:

I observed this pair of Gannets for a while and although one of the pair (possibly the female) was already sitting on a nest the other (maybe the male) kept fetching nesting materials and offering it to its partner who didnt move from the nest and ended up with it strewn around them. I assumed all birds would have had their young and have fledglings by now but their were still birds sitting on nests right along the cliffs.

Habitat:

found at Bempton cliffs near Bridlington on the East coast of Yorkshire, the site is owned and maintained by the RSPB.

Notes:

Gannets can reach a speed of 100kmph if diving for fish from a height of 30m above the sea, this enables them to catch fish deeper than other sea birds.

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (10)
Debbie Stewart
Browse away as much as you like Marta :-) Thanks for the compliment, these ones were hovering just above the cliff edge for some reason so were relatively easy to take, usually they bomb past at a great speed as you might well have seen in Shetland!
The MnMs
Debbie: this is a very nice spotting of the gannet in flight! I had not seen it before but now I am browsing your collection :-)
Debbie Stewart
You have some fabulous birds and butterflies if they are anything like the ones at Iguazu, that is the nearest I have been to your country though but I am very jealous of you living in such a beautiful place! South America is my favourite part of the world :-)
patty
You had a wonderful view from that cliff ! And yes, Uruguay is a beautiful and interesting country too; we have lots of birds as many birds migrate to Uruguay during your wintertime (our summer).
Debbie Stewart
Thank you so much Patty :-) I was fortunate to be standing on the top of the cliff when these gannets were hovering just above the edge of it every few minutes so was able to capture this with a little patience! You have some love;y spottings yourself too! Uruguay looks a very interesting country :-)
patty
Very nice series Debbie! It almost seems as if you were flying with the bird...those are great spottings! =)

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Birds of the World
Mission
Global Flight
Mission
Mission WILD
Mission
Birds of Britain
Mission
National Geographic's Great Nature Project

Tags

Photographed
PublishedJuly 2, 2013

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